Brewnotes

I was talking to a friend of mine who mentioned a local German homebrew competition taking place.   In that conversation we talked about a style that was knew to me – German porter.   Check out the article that was dug up on this style.    I don’t think this style is currently covered in the BJCP style guidelines but it is pretty cool nonetheless.

I’ve posted about this before but I think Tom Wark over at the Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog is more adept at describing the situation.

"There are many trustworthy palates; you should seek out as many as you can. You should find out their favorites and if you can afford them, you should try them to see if your palate roughly aligns. If they offer no great reviews of affordable wines, you should look elsewhere; great wine is all around, just like good reviewers."

I look forward to the day that the 100 point scale is gone.   Have you ever seen a bottle labeled with a 38 in a liquor store?    I assure you – there are probably some that should be.

If you know me, I was bound to have a GD inspired brew at some point.   This was brewed back on 3/6/2010.   This recipe is originally taken from Jamil.  To quote him, “This is how red ales are done on the West Coast.  Just about every brewery out here needs a beer on their menu that has a lot of hop flavor, and many of them turn to this style of beer.   They are big, bold statements balancing lots of citrusy hops and specialty malt.”

Ingredients (Single Infusion Mash – 152F):

Hops:

Yeast:

Yield:

Stats:

While the beer itself has great malt flavor and an appropriate amount of hops,  this beer turned out way too dark.    Turns out I missed the fact that Jamil was calling for 350L roasted barley and I used 500L.    Figured this out over here.

Next batch, I will pull back both the Crystal 120L and the roasted barley.    Lesson learned.

A friend invited me out to DuClaw @ Arundel Mills yesterday.   I got a special treat to try two different firkins!   A wit spiced with cinnamon and vanilla and a imperial porter with peppermint.    While I would say these beers weren’t my thing, it was an impressive thirsty crowd that had gathered.

Best part of the night for me – trying the Double IPA – Serum.    Amazing how balanced it was.